BECon 2013: Richard Marquis

Marquis presented this lecture on Thursday June 21, 2013 in Portland as part of BECon 2013: CHROMA-CULTURE.

How I Misuse Bullseye Glass - Richard Marquis
"Like most accomplished abusers of information I incorporate multiple levels of deceit, manipulation, and both feigned and true ignorance." So begins the description of this session originally submitted (late) by artist Richard Marquis. To summarize the rest, he promised to describe his approach to working with glass as a material ("I ignore all melting advice ... it's like I toss buckets of quarters into a deep wishing well") and the often weeks-long portmanteau process—blowing some shapes, pulling round and square cane and bundling them into complex patterns that get pulled again into complicated murrine, fusing rods into stripes, checkerboards, and odd patterns—that ultimately results in what he calls "various objets d'art": eggs and elephants, boats and teapots, potatoes and Marquiscarpae that are universally celebrated for their beauty, subversive charm, and distinctive blend of humor and pathos. He also stated his intention to discuss why he doesn't worry about things cracking ("a natural process embraced by the natural world") or compatibility ("except with my wife").

In dog years, Richard Marquis has been working in glass for over three centuries. In that time he's worn out four dogs and is working on his fifth. Also in that time, he's created a weird and varied body of work, a portion of which is in important public and private collections. Eschewing publicity, he works quietly and haphazardly in his shop on Whidbey Island, Washington. He's received more than his share of awards and notoriety.